Stéphane Mallarmé

ISBN-13: 9781861896599 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 224 str.

Roger Pearson

Opis

This concise biography of Stephane Mallarme (1842 98) blends an account of the poet s life with a detailed analysis of his evolving poetic theory and practice. A poet on this earth must be uniquely a poet, he declared at the age of twenty-two but what is a poet s life and what isa poet s function? In his poems and prose statements and by the example of his life, Mallarme provided answers to these questions. In Stephane Mallarme, Roger Pearson explores the relationship among Mallarme s life, his philosophy, and his writing. To Mallarme, being a poet consists of a continuous, lifelong investigation of language and its expressive potential. It represents, argues Pearson, a fundamental response to the metaphysical mystery of the human condition and the desire to make sense of it for others. A poet turns everyday banality into prospects of mystery; and a poet, in Mallarme s conception, is able to bring all human beings together in heightened awareness and understanding of the magnificent act of living. This concise and engaging biography tells the story of a fascinating and utterly unique voice in French poetry, one that was often overshadowed by other Symbolist writers. It is an essential read for students of literature and nineteenth-century France. "